§931 Benefits under State workmen’s compensation laws

Summary

Starting January 1, 1974, claims for death or total disability from pneumoconiosis must be filed under the applicable State workers’ compensation law. If miners or their survivors are not covered by a State law that the federal official finds provides adequate protection, or if the claim involves benefits tied to paragraph (5) of section 921(c), then the miner or survivor can claim benefits under the federal program instead. The Secretary must publish a list of State laws that do provide adequate coverage by October 1, 1972, and update that list as State laws change. A State law is on the list only if the Secretary finds it meets several rules: it requires benefits for death or total disability of a miner (with limited exceptions about the miner’s last coal-mine job and operator responsibility); it pays cash benefits at least equal to those in section 922(a); it uses standards for death and total disability like section 902(f) and the federal rules; disability claims are allowed if filed within three years after a medical finding; it has prior/successor operator rules like section 932(i); and it includes any other provisions the Secretary finds needed that are consistent with earlier federal law. Any final regulations to implement amendments must be published in the Federal Register as soon as practicable and no later than six months after those amendments are enacted.